It would be unfair to call Curious Theatre’s 14th season a return to relevance. Offering the first Denver productions of substantive, contemporary plays has been the company’s core mission since 1998. But there have been tangents and misfires, as recently as the current season.

Curious’ newest slate signals a slight lurch back into the center lane of what it does best: The five selected plays take on issues as divergent as race, our military moral compass, and the nation’s collapsing economy and infrastructure. With a few laughs along the way.

Curious playwright-in-residence Meridith Friedman calls it the company’s most challenging and topical season to date.

“Some of these plays are commenting on incredibly recent events,” she said, notably “Circle 9” (opening Jan. 14). It’s about an honorably discharged soldier who is later brought up on charges for crimes he committed while in Iraq. “That play really speaks to how we as a country are responsible for the actions of those people we send off to war.”

Curious opens the season Sept. 3 with “Clybourne Park,” by Bruce Norris, whom founder Chip Walton calls “one of our most interesting and important American playwrights.” It picks up where Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” ends — the first act opening with a black couple moving into a middle- class Chicago neighborhood in 1959; the second act fast-forwarding 50 years later, when the demographic has changed significantly. It’s a fierce play that New York Theater magazine says “goes for the jugular of politically correct liberals.”

For years, Curious showed a far greater interest in presenting Broadway’s most recent Tony-winning best drama than our own Tony-winning Denver Center Theatre Company. That will be the case again when Curious stages John Logan’s “Red” (May 5). While the world is hardly clamoring for another play about art, Logan’s charged dialogue between the manic — and egomaniacal — abstract expressionist Mark Rothko and his young assistant chronicles a sea change in art history: when the generation of upstart artists like Rothko who helped destroy surrealism and cubism found themselves being superseded by the emergence of Andy Warhol and pop-culture art.

“Becky Shaw” is a sharp-witted comedy by Gina Gionfriddo that shows the collateral damage to a married couple after they arrange a catastrophic blind date (March 10).

Curious is part of the National New Play Network, an alliance of 26 nonprofit professional theaters that select promising new plays and then commit to a minimum of three full stagings by member companies within a 12-month period. We previously reported that next year Curious will stage one of three “rolling” world-premiere presentations of Allison Moore’s “Collapse” (Nov. 5). It’s about the 2007 Minneapolis bridge disaster. And Walton promises, “it’s one of the funniest plays we’ve ever produced.”

For information, call 303-623-0524.

Read more on Curious Theatre’s new season on our blog

Read more on Curious’ upcoming season, including detailed play descriptions, photos from previous stagings, founder Chip Walton’s comments, and either our Denver Post reviews of previous stagings around the country, or links to other reviews.

Other news in brief …

Afterthought Theatre Company, founded last June by Reynelda Snell, is moving into the former Shadow Theatre space at 1468 Dayton St. in Aurora. The company’s “A Soldier’s Play,” which closes today at the Crossroads Theatre, will reopen at Shadow March 11-20. That will be followed by “Waiting to Be Invited” April 15-30. Read more on our blog . . .

Construction of the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater’s new $5 million complex in Grand Lake will be complete in mid-May. The 297-seat stadium theater opens June 10 with “Beauty and the Beast” (970-627-3421). . . .

Haila Stoddard, producer at Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre from 1972-87 and a Tony-nominated producer who was first to bring Harold Pinter to Broadway, died Feb. 21 in Weston, Conn. She was 97. Read our tribute at denverpost.com/theater …

The Arvada Center’s “Cabaret,” opening March 22, will bring Brett Aune home from Los Angeles to play Cliff Bradshaw. It will be his first performance in Denver since 2006. Other notable locals in the cast include Billie McBride as Fräulein Schneider, Wayne Kennedy as Herr Schultz, Gabriella Cavallero as Fräulein Kost and Jeffrey Roark as Ernst. Read more on our blog …

And cast in the title roles of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “Romeo and Juliet” are Jamie Ann Romero and Benjamin Bonenfant. It opens June 25 in Boulder, and will play Aug. 19-20 in the Arvada Center’s outdoor amphitheater (303-492-0554). Read more on our blog . . .

And finally, Chris Wiger is leaving the Denver Center Theatre Company after 15 years to become the first director of public relations at the $18 million Lone Tree Arts Center that opens in August. Watch our video tribute.

Best bet: “The Aluminum Show”

Don’t be fooled by the pedestrian title. This Israeli touring stage production isn’t a bland industry convention but rather a stage show that creatively employs all things aluminum (specifically, reclaimed materials from industrial factories) in its pursuit of family friendly entertainment. Much like “Stomp” and “Blue Man Group,” it incorporates deftly timed music, dance, humor and elaborate lighting — and must be seen to be fully appreciated. $15-$50. 7 p.m. today, Sunday, Feb. 27. Buell Theatre. 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org. John Wenzel

Most recent theater openings

“Beau Jest” Sarah is a nice Jewish girl whose parents think she has a nice Jewish boyfriend. When they visit, she hires an aspiring actor to play the man of their dreams. Through March 12. Presented by the Coal Creek Community Theater at the Louisville Center for the Arts, 801 Grant St., 303-665-0955 or ccctheater .org

“The Diviners” The handicapped theater company PHAMALy moves its recent staging of Jim Leonard’s Depression-era drama to the Arvada Center for one weekend. In a small farm community where water and faith are in short supply, two unlikely outcasts help each other divine for truth, faith and hope. Through Sunday, Feb. 27. 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., 720-898-7200 or phamaly.org

“Harvey”Mary Chase’s classic screwball comedy is about an average, mild-mannered man with one slight eccentricity: His best friend is an invisible, 6-foot rabbit named Harvey. Through March 26. Presented by the Spotlight Theatr at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. First Place, 720-880-8727 or thisisspotlight.org

“The Kitchen Witches” Two archrival hosts on TV’s Food Network find themselves unhappily teamed up on the same cooking show. Think Martha Stewart collides with Jerry Springer. Through March 6. Presented by the Parker Arts Council at the Parker Mainstreet Center, 19650 E. Main St., 303-840-5406 or parkerartscouncil.org

“The Field” The Victorian Playhouse continues its year-long “Irish Season” with the regional premiere of John B. Keane’s story of Bull McCabe, who’s outraged when the farm he rents is put up for sale by its widow owner. Through April 2. 4201 Hooker St., 303-433-4343 or denvervic.com

“Five Course Love” This lighthearted new musical comedy shows five chaotic comedy sketches set in five separate themed restaurants, ranging from a Southern barbecue to an upscale Italian restaurant to a 1950s diner. Through June 19. Presented by Denver Center Attractions at the Galleria Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org

“Fully Committed”Christopher Willard plays the poor guy who mans the phone lines for a swanky five-star New York restaurant, as well as his nonstop parade of callers, the maitre d’, chef and other assorted characters. Through March 26. Backstage Theatre, 121 S. Ridge St., Breckenridge, 970-453-0199 or backstagetheatre.org

“Stop Kiss” Diana Son’s acclaimed 1998 play is about a kiss between two self-identified heterosexual women and its violent aftermath. Through March 19. Presented by Equinox Theatre Company at the Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St., 720-434-5245 or equinoxtheatredenver .com

“A Streetcar Named Desire” ThunderRiver Theatre celebrates the centennial of Tennessee Williams’ birth with his 1947 Pulitzer winner about the violent culture clash between Old South relic Blanche DuBoisand her immigrant brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski. Through March 12. 67 Promenade, Carbondale, 970-963- 8200 or thunderrivertheatre.com

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